Month: November 2014

I’m not going to bother trying to figure out whether Bill Cosby raped 15+ women. That’s for a court of law to determine, but then again, maybe it isn’t.

Let me explain.

What I should have typed is: ‘That should be for a court of law to determine’.

As I watched various news sources reporting on the allegations of rape made against Bill Cosby, one thing became frighteningly, terrifyingly real – he might never face criminal charges because apparently, parts of America have a crazy, stupid, mind-blowing statute of limitations on rape cases. In Canada (where I live) there is no statute of limitations on anything, except ‘lesser (summary) crimes and misdemeanors’.

Look, if you owe a few bucks or are caught jaywalking or something, I can see there being a statute of limitations.

If you drug and rape someone, you shouldn’t get off free as a bird. There is a clear difference between jaywalking and raping someone.

I’m not saying Bill Cosby is guilty, but he should definitely face prosecution (if those women wish to press charges) for something as heinous as possibly raping someone. If he’s innocent, then he’ll be exonerated, but a ridiculous statute of limitations on something as serious as rape is un-freaking-believable.

Especially when you consider that rape is one of the least reported crimes:

“We all know that rape and sexual assault are the most underreported crimes in the world, and it’s very hard to say that the problem is declining,” Christopher Krebs, a sexual violence researcher at nonprofit research institute RTI International, told Slate this week. “The NCVS data could be missing a lot.”

Come on…

Get rid of those statutes of limitations and prosecute sexual assault when you can. Not only are these statutes of limitation silly, but they’re extremely dangerous because they could allow rapists to get off the hook and continue sexually assaulting people in the future.

I ran across (because I follow) a blog post called, ‘The Horrors of Atheist Indoctrination‘, that thoroughly explores the emotional blackmail that usually come prepackaged with religion.

He starts off with:

Over the years I have talked to a number of atheists who have a serious problem with Christians who indoctrinate their kids.

I wrote here that indoctrination is not an issue, all parents, regardless of their beliefs, pass those beliefs on to their kids.

I disagree. I find a whole lot wrong with indoctrination.

I wonder if the author would be singing the same sort of tune if the indoctrination in question was Nazism or Islamism?

Why not teach them to think for themselves, question everything and allow them to make up their own minds?

What I never thought about, until today, is the deep regret former atheists can have when they realize the error of their ways.

He then goes on to recount a woeful story about a father who (supposedly) realizes that because he’d been an atheist when he was raising his children, they would now likely go to hell.

Enter the emotional blackmail.

Most parents love their kids and would do anything to prevent them being tortured for eternity – something this all-knowing God seems fine with. Next, all you have to do is convince them that their children are destined to such a fate, if they don’t indoctrinate their children with their own beliefs. If that doesn’t work, bullying may ensue, because the thought of their children burning for all time is something they can barely stand.

The emotional blackmail is complete. It could tear apart families and convince people of nonsense.

Thankfully, there is no need to believe such things. Even if you do believe in God; an all-knowing, all-loving God willing to torture people endlessly is a contradiction in terms.

If you are an atheist parent, like Wally was, are you similarly indoctrinating your kids into disbelief? If so, are you OK with that?

No.

In fact, I encouraged my kids to read everything they could, including holy books of any kind. I didn’t tell them there was no God. If asked, I told them what some people believed and encouraged them to find out for themselves. Getting angry at them for believing (or not believing) the same things I do never entered my mind. My son is sort of a deist, although he leans towards belief in Jesus and my daughter doesn’t care about religion much at all.

Think the horror of Hell isn’t bad enough?

Imagine how your kids are going to feel when they find out it was the teaching of the people who were charged with caring for them, loving them, and looking out for them that got them there.

Further imagine how they will feel when they learn you won’t be with them to share in their suffering…

…that you’ve moved on without them.

If I’d moved on without them and knew they were being tortured eternally, it wouldn’t be heaven to me.

What if the tables were turned? What if they learned that you’d indoctrinated them with ancient, mythological nonsense that contradicts itself and goes against the reality we observe today? What if they feel duped and lied too?

Besides that, what exactly would an atheist indoctrinate their kids with? There is no atheist bible. It’s a lack of belief in god(s). That hardly makes for a set of rules or guidelines needed for indoctrination.

Here’s the deal: yesterday I got my 400th subscriber (I hate the word ‘follower’) and I want to thank everyone who subscribed, supports, reads or comments on this blog. You guys and gals are awesome and I’ve loved interacting with you all. I’m deeply flattered that anyone would read this blog, let alone have 400 of you decide to click the ‘follow’ button.

So thank you and I look forward to more blogging in the future!

Second of all, I finally did it and became…basically…a vegan. I say ‘basically’ because the transformation isn’t complete. I haven’t had meat in nearly a week, but that doesn’t mean I’m totally sworn off the stuff yet.

I’ve written before about the ethical concerns I have with eating meat, but it’s taken me a long time to work up the courage to do anything about it. Last year around Christmas time, I quit smoking and haven’t touched one since. This year (coincidentally) I’ve decided to take the next step and lose weight (and assuage my guilt about unnecessarily eating meat) by adopting a diet plan that doesn’t include meat, dairy or animal products.

Now this doesn’t mean I’m going to go around and preach to people about how they eat. This is very much a personal decision and I’ve eaten meat my entire life (and loved every minute of it) so I have no right to talk down to people who still choose to eat meat and partake in animal products. Everything I say here is from my own perspective and is about my opinion only. So if you still eat meat and want to continue, that’s totally your choice and I’m fine with that.

With that said, I’ve lost a total of five pounds after about a week. I didn’t exercise during this time. I just spent that time concentrating on changing my dietary habits. I stick to fruits and vegetables mostly, including huge salads. I don’t add salt to anything, and avoid anything that is packaged with sodium etc. My diet mainly consists of beans, whole fruits, vegetables and nuts (sparingly). I have cut out dairy products, animal products, fruit juice and oils, except small amounts of nut oils, such as almond butter when necessary and a dash of cream in my morning decaffeinated coffee, which I hope to cut out soon.

Keep in mind that during the day, I would drink HUGE amounts of coffee. I would consume at least 4 large cups, and that was a slow day. Usually, I would drink between 4-8 big cups of triple-triple coffee. I now allow myself only two normal sized cups, with a splash of cream and two sweeteners instead of sugar.

It’s my one cheat so sue me.

The first two days I experienced some stomach upset. By ‘stomach upset’ I mean I had gas and some gurgle action going on. I also had a short attention span and a slight headache – the latter probably from caffeine withdrawal. I also experienced mild fatigue.

However, after day two, I felt markedly better. I find the food is tasting better and better, and more importantly, I feel more energetic than usual. In fact, I feel fantastic.

I used to have a very, very (understatement) hard time getting up for anything besides work, but I now find that I have a ton more energy and I feel better than I have in quite a while. I hope this trend continues and isn’t a sort of placebo effect, but I guess time will tell.

As I type this, for example, I’m enjoying a beautiful butternut squash soup that my wife made last night.

My soup!

I’ve also cut out any and all sweets…commonly referred to as ‘junk food’.

That doesn’t mean I’ll never have another sweet, but I plan on sticking to this aggressive diet plan till at least Christmas, before I allow myself any more small cheats, such as a cookie or something.

So where did this radical idea come from?

My wife and I have a friend who started this diet (found in the book Eat to Live) and he has lost 20 pounds in about a month. He also doesn’t stick to it as religiously (bad pun alert!) as we are. He allows himself small portions of meat, such as steak, fish and chicken with some of his meals.

So anyways, that’s what I’ve been up to. If you have any recipe suggestions, comments or questions, feel free to leave them in the comment section below.

I’ll be sure to keep you updated on my progress or lack thereof.

And thanks again to all of those who have liked, commented or read my work here. It’s greatly appreciated!

I often get asked where I get my morals from, just because I don’t believe in a certain god or gods. I always find the question strange, since I tend to think we all (for the most part) ‘get’ our morals from the same place, using much the same method.

Culture For The Win?

In some respects, I think we get some of our morals and biases from our respective cultures. It’s why different cultures vary in what they find ‘moral’ behavior.

For example, I find cutting off a thief’s hand or executing people as part of our criminal justice system unethical, yet I can cross the border into the U.S and find the death penalty or I can hop on a plane and visit a country that thinks chopping off a thief’s hand is perfectly acceptable behavior. In some cultures, human sacrifices were given to the gods, and it was considered a great honor to give your life in such a way.

Ironically, in a way, religion is a culture being passed on through a book. I think if you’re trying to get your morals from an ancient religion and the culture that spawned it, you’re still deriving your ethics from an ancient civilization.

I think the question we need to ask ourselves is whether this is the best method?

Personally, I don’t think so.

Empathy

Most of us have empathy and can mentally put ourselves in another person’s shoes. This is basically where the ‘golden rule’ (which predates Christianity and other mainstream religions) comes from.

For example, I can imagine what it would be like to have a possession stolen. I then realize I wouldn’t like that feeling and so decide not to inflict that feeling on another human being by stealing their things.

Of course, the golden rule isn’t perfect. There are things I might consider to be okay, that someone else wouldn’t like. If I’m into pain for pleasure, for example, not everyone is going to share my enthusiasm.

Moral reasoning can be defined as being the process in which an individual tries to determine the difference between what is right and what is wrong in a personal situation by using logic. This is an important and often daily process that people use in an attempt to do the right thing. Every day for instance, people are faced with the dilemma of whether or not to lie in a given situation. People make this decision by reasoning the morality of the action and weighing that against its consequences.

It’s not a perfect process and it evolves along with our culture, but I think it’s far superior to an ethical system that doesn’t (or isn’t supposed to) change, such as religion.

We (most of us) can weigh the consequences vs. benefits of our actions and figure out if it’s worth it. We can use our reasoning and logic instead of rigid dogmatic beliefs.

In fact, most religious people use these methods. Even religion is forced to evolve or die according to our cultures and the moral reasoning of the time. As more information becomes available, we are forced as a society to reevaluate our actions.

If something isn’t eternal, what point is there?

I don’t understand why something must be permanent in order to have meaning.

If I do a good deed, it matters now. Our happiness matters now. It doesn’t have to matter 3 billion years from now to have meaning now.

Whether there is a heaven or a hell, it isn’t required for us to give meaning to our lives and it certainly isn’t needed for constructing an ethical framework of behavior. Even many religious people will acknowledge that atheists are perfectly capable of acting ethically, yet they don’t believe in god(s).

But…without god telling us rape and murder are bad, what makes it so?

We do. Human beings can figure it out using our own reasoning and empathy.

What’s more scary is the thought that for some, ancient literature is the only thing keeping them from thinking murder and rape are great ideas.

If you can’t think of any other reason that rape and murder is wrong, you might want to seek help.

So if you’re an atheist, where do you derive your morals or ethics from? And if you’re religious, what do you think about morals and ethics in general?

You guessed it…I got it. It seemed to go away, and then came back in all its snuffly glory. I’ve since been able to mostly shake it. I now only have a slight sniffle and a desire to be lazy.

Okay…the lazy part is usual. It might have nothing to do with the cold. But I’m going to blame it on the cold anyways.

However, in the good news department, work seems to be going supremely well. I had another job offer the other day for a client that would fit nicely in with my existing schedule. The bad part is I’ll be even busier than I already am with my 6-day work week, but I do enjoy my job and it will also mean a few extra bucks in the old bank account.

Social work is very rewarding but no one (that I know of) ever got uber rich doing it.

I plan on taking some holidays in December, possibly coinciding with Christmas break so I can capitalize on the extra paid days.

So in celebration of finally shaking this nasty cold, I thought I’d share a few recent pictures with you. I hope you enjoy them!

I took a client to an archeology museum and this totem pole was there. I found it a bit creepy, but they thought it was a hoot.

My wife saw this in her shopping travels and sent the picture to me. This is what I’m going to dress up as next Halloween!

It’s hard to tell from this picture, but this is a life sized replica of a longhouse. Pretty cool, right?

This is a picture of a neat model I found at the archaeology museum.

Another shot of the model. I liked it, okay!

No picture montage is complete without one of my pal, Dexter.

There you have it.

Oh, and in other news, my wife and I plan on taking on a vegetarian diet. I’ve written about my ethical concerns with eating meat in previous posts (while still stuffing my face hypocritically with lots of savory meat) but I’m finally planning on doing something about it.

Beginning with breaks in the letter ‘M,’ the woman explains that it symbolizes the Hebrew letter vav — the sixth letter in the Hebrew alphabet — as she maintains that the three now-broken bars of the ‘m’ stand for 666, the Sign of the Beast. She later notes how this ties in with the drink’s advertising slogan: Unleash the beast.

Turning to the ‘o’ in the word ‘monster’ she draws attention to a cross piercing it and poses the question as to what Christ, as symbolized by the cross, has to do with an energy drink company. She then notes that the can has the letters ‘BFC’ at the base which she explains stands for “Big f*cking can,” while she draws attention to to size of the 24 fl. oz can

I know I’m convinced.

I’m certainly convinced that our species has a penchant for superstition and silliness.

If I were Satan, I would be rolling around in my fiery grave. Here I am putting in all this work to try and make humans follow their basic God-given instincts, and these people think I have to stoop to using energy drinks. God gets credit for the flashy miracles, plagues, drownings and angels, and here I am getting spit on like a second-rate charlatan.

Things sure have changed since the time of Job, when God and I could sit around and torture a poor righteous man, while sipping premium scotch.

She goes on with:

She goes on to state that the manufacturers are using the popularity of the highly-caffeinated drinks to enter into Christian homes.

“This is how clever Satan is. And how he gets into the Christan home, and a Christian’s life, and it breaks God’s heart,” she explains.

Now she speaks for the almighty as well. How does she know what breaks God’s heart> Does an invisible, supernatural being even have a heart? Does God not have the power to change anything? Is He really going to allow Monster Energy drinks to become his downfall!?

Stay tuned to find out.

Same God-time. Same Satanic channel.

Dumb Question: If Monster Energy is the work of Satan…why does she seem to own a case of it? Did Satan trick her into bringing him into yet another Christian household?

“A 90-year-old man is facing up to 60 days in jail for feeding the needy due to a new law that bans people in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, from meal-sharing with the public.

Arnold Abbott risks being fined $500 and spending time in prison after police officers apprehended him while he was handing out meals to homeless people in a park on Sunday.

He was arrested and charged along with two ministers from the Sanctuary Church, which prepares hundreds of meals to dish out every week in their kitchen, while shocked onlookers shouted to officers “shame on you!” in a video published by NY Daily News.

Mr Abbott said: “One of police officers came over and said ‘Drop that plate right now,’ as if I was carrying a weapon.”

Drop that plate?

Was it loaded? Was he threatening the officers with deadly Cornishware?

Come on, Florida. Is this really what you want your law enforcement officials working on? Shouldn’t those officers be looking for real criminals?

Of course, the officers in question could have handled the whole situation a lot better, while still upholding the ridiculous law. Instead of ordering the elderly pastor to ‘drop that plate’, they could have explained the law and asked him to move. Instead, they decided to needlessly arrest him.

Look, I don’t give a crap whether you’re religious or non-religious. We need more people handing out food to the hungry. Not less. We shouldn’t be penalizing the ones who are trying to help those in need. If you want to see a real-life hero, look no further than this pastor who tirelessly hands out hundreds of meals every single week.